Winston Moss, who played for L.A. Raiders, to be named coach and GM of L.A.’s XFL team

Winston Moss, then the Packers' associate head coach, walks on the sideline during a night practice at Lambeau Field in August. (Mike Roemer / Associated Press)

Former Green Bay Packers associate head coach Winston Moss will be named the head coach and general manager of Los Angeles’ XFL team Tuesday, people with knowledge of the situation told The Times.

The people spoke anonymously Monday because Moss’ selection had not officially been announced.

Advertisement

Moss was the Packers’ linebackers coach the last 13 seasons but was fired in December after the team parted ways with head coach Mike McCarthy. Moss, who played linebacker for the Los Angeles Raiders in the 1990s, joined the Packers along with the McCarthy in 2006 after being an assistant with the New Orleans Saints from 2000 to 2005.

Moss’ dismissal came after he sent a tweet concerning McCarthy’s firing that suggested Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers might have played a role in the move and the team’s 6-9-1 season.

“Ponder this,” Moss tweeted. “What Championship teams have are great leadership! Period! It’s not the offensive guru trend, it’s not the safe trend. Find somebody that is going to hold #12 and everybody in this building to a #LombardiStandard! Period! #losingsucks!”

Packers interim head coach Joe Philbin and general manager Brian Gutekunst said then that the team parted ways with Moss because he wasn’t the right fit, not because of the tweet.

Moss won a Super Bowl with the Packers in 2011. He was the head coach of Team Irvin for the 2016 Pro Bowl, leading it to a 49-27 win over Team Rice, which was coached by Andy Reid.

Moss interviewed for several NFL head coaching jobs and was a finalist to be the head coach of the Detroit Lions before the team went with Matt Patricia in 2018.

Moss, 53, was a linebacker with the Raiders from 1991 to 1994, their final four years in L.A. He played in the NFL for 11 seasons from 1987 to 1997, including stints with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks, following a four-year career at the University of Miami.

He contributed to Miami’s first football national championship in 1983 and played under head coaches Howard Schnellenberger and Jimmy Johnson. Moss was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.

The yet-to-be-named XFL team in Los Angeles will begin play Feb. 8, 2020, and will hold its home games at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson. The Chargers will play their final season there this year before moving into the new stadium in Inglewood next year.